mauser06

im finding myself at a point of decision making....for the last 10 years dad has footed the butcher bills and got what he wanted made...no biggie..i usually do the killin and draggin...and some of the eating...but not near what he eats lol....

but i know i like kilbasi, sausage, bologna, snack sticks, jerky etc...

im thinking it would save me ALOT of cash to just do it myself...

im thinking with a smoker, grinder, stuffer, and saws and such, as well as the ingredients and casings and such, i can be rolling....

kilbasi, summer sausage and such, bologna, sticks, jerky etc can all be smoked correct? sweet italian sausge and breakfast sausage and such is just ground, mixed, stuffed and frozen correct??

i dont know a whole lot about processing and MAKING meat...so far i can skin and quarter a deer...i can learn the cuts to bone them no problem, just havent done it yet..just dont know what goes into making those specialty meats....

advice? whats needed? pros? cons?

i just know soon enough here, im going to be moving away and will have my own game to take care of. i know i eat alot more specialty meat than anything else....i dont use roasts at all, and barely use burger...if the deer is older weve found that the steaks are too tough to be good eating even if cut thin and marinated...so im thinking processing my own would be a good way to go....and assume that i can bone and freeze the meat and thaw and grind it when im ready to make a batch of whatever correct???

thanx for any and all info....i just know im always going to be a hunter and love game meat...and i think i can do more, and make meat that fits my flavors better as well as save cash doing it myself...just need some guidance

jerseyhunter

Get a smoker , check your PM's.

Big Guy01

Yes you can do it your self. There is a little more to making fresh sausage then grinding the meat and putting it in a casing. A good fresh sausage should have a balance of fat,meat water and spices. It then has to be mixed at the proper temperature then stuffed, linked and frozen or eaten. semi dry sausages are a little more work. you need the proper balance of fat,water,meat and spices, cure is added also then they are smoked at low temps to an internal temp as per the type of sausage you want to make. The dried sausage are the top of a sausage makers art. they are not cooked , some are smoked at very low temps and then hung to dry fron 6 weeks to a year depending on the type of meat being produced these use a different cure (#2). it is all a learning process.
The equiptment you will need is a good boning knie, a butchers hand saw (forget about band saws) a good grinder (size 22 and about 3/4 hp), a 10-15# sausage stuffer,and good sized smoker which you can control the temp(bradley's are too small) a meat probe digital thermometer to know when your sausages have hit their target temp. Sausage making is an art , you get better as you go. there is lots of help out there . Just jump in and give it a go, don't expect perfection on everything at your first attempt.